Mark (Mark Popejoy), a recovering alcoholic, has lived with his mother
(Jeanne Kern) and his daughter Britany (Britany Dailey), who's pretty much
looking after the both of them, in their country home ever since his wife
had died. All his other children have left home long ago, but now it's hit
50th birthday and they all return for a birthday party. It should have
been a joyous affair, but soon it becomes clear that this is pretty much a
disfunctional family: Some of Mark's kids believe dad (or rather his
alcoholism) is also to blame for their mum's death, grandma gets more and
more erratic, and now that Britany's pregnant, it might be too much for
her to look after Mark and his mother. Plus Mark's not at all ok with the
fact that his son Tony's (Tony Brown) is gay, daughter Bree (Breana
Mitchell) has sex with her boyfriend without being married, and how could
Britany even get knocked up out of wedlock? And then there's Mark's
sister-in-law Cheyenne (Cheyenne King) who tries to seduce him and thinks
of all things alcohol's the way to his heart ...

So not the happiest
family indeed - but then one of his daughters gives Mark the present of
his lifetime, a windup gorilla exactly like the one he had as a child (and
exactly that old, too). Thing is though, the gorilla was present in the
Amityville Horror House when the murders happened 40 years ago, and now
seems to be possessed. So before long, Mark begins to see his
long-deceased father, and dad tells Mark to slaughter his family, just as
Ronald DeFeo (Eric Moyer) had done in the Amityville Horror House - and
with all his pent-up anger, Mark is only too happy to oblige, at first
subtly, luring family members away one by one, but ultimately, he hunts
his remaining daughters down one by one armed with ax and shotgun ...

The
Amityville Legacy is a nice throwback to grindhouse horror of the
1970s, it's blunt and violent, but understands when to show its shocks and
when to actually better hide them for full effect, it makes up for its low
budget with a well-structured story and a very steady pace, and its
no-frills directorial effort really works for the movie's impact. And a
solid ensemble cast doesn't hurt, either. Cool genre entertainment,
really!